Russian laughs off "extradition threat" over poisoning

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy today laughed off a report that Britain was preparing to demand his extradition to stand trial for the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Lugovoy, a former KGB bodyguard who later worked as head of security for tycoon Boris Berezovsky, chuckled when a Reuters correspondent read the Guardian report to him.

''You can say on Reuters that when Lugovoy was read the Guardian report about my extradition, Lugovoy gave full-hearted, healthy laughter,'' he said by telephone.

He declined to answer any other questions and said reporters should refer to earlier interviews. In an interview with Reuters last month, he denied his guilt and lashed out at British media for portraying him as a monster.

Lugovoy and another businessman met Litvinenko in a London hotel on November. 1, the day Litvinenko first fell ill.

Litvinenko, a former spy who became a Kremlin critic, died of polonium 210 poisoning on November. 23, three weeks later.

The Guardian quoted unidentified British officials as saying an extradition request for Lugovoy could be made as early as next month. British police had no immediate comment.

Lugovoy was treated at a Moscow hospital after Litvinenko's death for what some Russian media said was radiation sickness. Lugovoy refused to say what he was being treated for.

British detectives questioned him last year at a Moscow hospital that specialises in treating people with radiation sickness.

Litvinenko made a deathbed statement accusing the Kremlin of killing him. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations as nonsense.

The Guardian said British officials were bracing for a cooling of relations with Moscow after the extradition request and that government officials were convinced the Kremlin would demand the extradition of Berezovsky.

Berezovsky, who helped President Vladimir Putin to power, fell foul of the Kremlin as Putin moved to cement his authority. He fled Russia in 2000 and lives in London.

REUTERS PDM PM1403